


Crystallite

by jitters



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Divergent, M/M, elsa is a lesbian, inaccurate arendelle geography, vent - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 13:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21477190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jitters/pseuds/jitters
Summary: If it were up to Sora, no walls would ever keep Riku away from him. Not even the ones he built himself.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 163





	Crystallite

**Author's Note:**

> there's no context for this. i wanted to see riku in arendelle so for this i imagined kh3's ending was happier and sora could take him ;w;

The battles and parties leave Sora tired and satisfied, and the cherry on top of their mountain of success is the fact that he gets his chance to fly everyone home, showing off his Gummi flight skills to all his friends and getting to take a peek at their home worlds. 

When he lands back on their island, with just Kairi and Riku left in the ship with him, Sora finds himself with one on either side of him, tired and resting on his shoulder. Sora smiles, secretly taking photos of them leaning on him with his phone, and feels no regret about it even as Kairi yawns herself awake first, nudging her chin into Sora’s shoulder and frowning.

“That’s not a very flattering picture,” she says softly, poking Sora’s cheek with her index finger. “You better not let Riku see it.”

Sora chuckles, but the vibration in Sora’s chest causes him to stir, and when Riku’s eyes open, he backs away in surprise, straightening his back and tensing his whole body. “Sorry,” he croaks, and Sora frowns. A shared glance with Kairi has him certain she noticed too, and they both watch as Riku is the first one onto his feet. “We should get you home,” he tells Kairi, and plants a hovering hand on Sora’s shoulder. “You too, yeah? Your mom must be worried.”

Sora glances at Riku’s hand, where it ghosts over him, and feigns a smile. “Yeah. Kairi first, okay?” He gives her a pleading look, and she understands, giving his arm a squeeze before she follows Riku out.

Alone, Sora looks through the many selfies on his phone, that he took all across the worlds he’s visited, and he stops when he gets to the photos he took with Elsa and Anna. In Arendelle, Sora felt Riku all over despite him never joining them. He’s never been able to shake the lingering memory of his time there, of the way Riku helped him save Elsa without knowing it.

Sora smiles, decisive, and a few minutes later when Riku returns, Sora hits the ‘close door’ button, locking Riku inside the ship with him. “One more stop!” he says without explanation, and Riku is just barely quick enough to reach for a chair before Sora takes off.

“I’m used to following your whims,” Riku laughs as he struggles to find a place in his seat. “But next time warn me before you pull a move like that, astronaut.” 

Having gotten a laugh out of him already, Sora knows this is one of the best ideas he’s ever had, and all he can do is assure Riku he should trust him, as he flies off to Arendelle. The ground below is still blanketed by a layer of snow, and Sora does his best to land at the highest point of the mountain he can without risking the safety of the ship. 

“Where are we?” Riku questions, his eyes wandering out the window, taking in the sight, and Sora steps up behind him, clasping both hands on Riku’s shoulders and excitedly shaking them.

“Arendelle,” Sora says brightly. “I have a friend who lives here.”

“You have friends everywhere,” Riku teases, but Sora’s already taken off out the door, climbing the wall of the cliffside just outside of the ship, and Riku follows just a few steps behind, looking up at him as he mounts a hunk of rock.

“You’ve got to meet the Queen!” Sora says, perking up as he reaches for Riku’s hand, trying to pull him along without checking if Riku is even following him -- he always knows he is. “It’s been bothering me since the last time I was here. You should’ve been with me.” He doesn’t just mean in Arendelle. But all the rest will come in time.

“Yeah?” Riku laughs, almost knowingly. “How many snowball fights did you subject Donald and Goofy to without me?”

“None!” Sora huffs defensively, but Riku gives him a sideways grin, and Sora puffs up his chest. “Okay, only like, two.”

Riku laughs again, but this time his shoes slips on the icy rock, and he instinctively reaches out for Sora’s arm. But Sora’s ready for him, catching Riku in a handshake-like grip that reaches up to his bicep. 

“Eheh,” Sora grins smugly, fingers giving Riku’s arm muscles a squeeze. “Don’t worry, I tripped at first too. I’m finally better than you at something until you catch up!”

“Right,” Riku mutters, and Sora can sense him holding back further comment, but he doesn’t push it. Not yet, anyway. He’s got time.

Sora pulls Riku up over the rock jutting out of the mountainside, and his hand lingers on Riku’s wrist even after they’re both steady on their feet, pulling away once he notices how warm it makes his palm, his fingertips, despite the cold nipping at their noses.

“Why do  _ you  _ seem nervous?” Riku teases, nudging Sora in the arm with his knuckle. “You’ve never been shy around royalty before.”

“I’m not nervous about that part,” Sora shakes his head thoughtfully, unable to decide if nervous is even the right word, but too preoccupied to worry about things like word choice. “I just...really want everything to make sense.”

He leaves Riku to ponder that, taking off in a dash when he sees the castle ahead of them, looking behind to wave Riku along, only to find that Riku followed suit without prompting, catching up more quickly than Sora is prepared for. 

“Hey!” Sora yells gleefully. “It’s not much of a head start if you react so fast!” Panting, he forces himself to push his legs to their limits, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth as he races to the finish line, about to touch the wall with his hand when Riku slides in right in front of him and leans against the wall, so swiftly that it takes Sora’s full effort to stop himself from flat out crashing into his chest. “How--”

“Guess I just know you too well,” Riku brags, hands on his hips. “I was ready for a race before we’d even started climbing.”

Sora knits his eyebrows, but more prominently he starts smiling from deep within, like he can’t help it and never had a chance to. “Yeah, you do know me better than anyone.” 

“Mutual, isn’t it?” Riku says proudly, eyes closed and arms folded across his chest. “I’d say you know me better than anyone else too.”

Sora parts his lips, but the words don’t come, and he curiously watches Riku’s relaxed form. He can’t argue that really; he’s certain he knows Riku better than anyone else could, but knowing and understanding are two different intellectual beasts, and Sora is still working to perfect the latter. He just nods. “Time to meet the Queen!” he deflects, tapping Riku on the shoulder with the weight of his hand and rapping on the front door.

To Sora’s surprise, it’s Elsa herself who answers the door, eyes bright and posture loosening up when she recognizes him, and she steps into the doorway with full attention on both of them. “Sora,” she greets with hands crossed in front of her. “Don’t tell me there’s danger to take care of again?”

“Not this time!” Sora says proudly, both fists on his hips in a superhero pose that immediately feels less appropriate without Donald and Goofy at his sides. “This is Riku,” he steps aside and extends both hands, presenting Riku to her like a present. Elsa stares.

“Hello Riku,” she bows her head slightly. “Are you a friend of Sora’s?”

Riku opens his mouth to answer, but not a single sound comes out of him before Sora throws his own voice into the mix, arms extended with excitement, “My  _ best  _ friend! None better! The strongest and coolest guy I know! And he’s been looking forward to meeting you!”

Riku stutters behind him, but Sora ignores it, along with the half-hearted laugh Elsa gives him from behind a hand struggling to cover her mouth. “Well, I can’t deny Sora that favor after he helped us,” she says, stepping inside and behind the door. “Come in, both of you, you must be cold.”

Oh yeah, Sora thinks. He forgot to ask Riku if he needed anything else to wear, but he never complained, and Sora is used to it by now, finding that the cold adds a certain thrill to everything he does while in town. Still, he’s excited enough that he turns back to Riku and gives him a thumbs-up, something Riku responds to with a confused shrug. 

It’s a gesture that Sora doesn’t have context for, not able to reach into Riku’s mind and pull out each and every one of his thoughts, and the distraction has him bumping into the door on his way inside, holding his grip on it afterwards and spinning on a heel so he can hold it open for Riku after him with a cheeky grin.

Elsa and Riku both laugh, voices overlapping and noses both crinkling, along with the corners of their eyes. “What’s so funny?” he questions them both as he closes the doors behind them, secretly giddy when he sees them share such a reaction.

“I can understand why Anna spoke so highly of you,” Elsa explains. “The two of you are quite similar.”

“Me and Anna?” Sora’s eyes widen, but he looks back and forth between Riku and Elsa, and comes to a conclusion of his own. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

As if she’d been expecting them, Elsa leads them both to a seating room, pouring tea into two cups where she has them sit across from her, steam rising and wafting the scent to fill the room. Sora could get used to this part of winter for sure. “So, Riku,” she directs, sitting up straight with eyebrows sharp and accusatory, even while her smile remains genuine. “I hadn’t realized my reputation had traveled so far as to reach someone who is clearly from an entirely different climate,” she gestures to his shorts and cropped sleeves.

Riku’s face flushes, if Sora isn’t imagining things, but whether it’s shyness or the warmth from their drinks, Sora accepts an equal possibility of each, and regardless, is curiously fond of the sight.

“Uh, to be honest,” Riku clears his throat. “I don’t even remember the name of your home. “It was Sora’s idea to drag me here.” Riku throws a quick glance Sora’s way, but nothing changes much, aside from the smile that grows after meeting his eyes. “I trust his judgement though, so it’s nice to meet you?”

Sora laughs, and collapses comfortably on the seat next to him, his shoulder intentionally bumping Riku’s. “Sorry. This is just how Riku is,” he explains. “But I guess I should confess it was my idea. I really wanted you two to meet each other.”

Elsa pulls her hand back, and Sora notices the tips of her fingers turn icy. “Is that so? May I ask why? If we have never so much as heard of each other…”

Sora interrupts, “You’re similar.” Elsa softens, but her fist closes, and she covers it with her other hand. By his side, Riku turns his gaze back on Sora and locks it there, something the hairs on the back of Sora’s neck are acutely aware of, standing up at attention. “Your powers, your feelings, your titles… Also your good looks! And running speed, and the way you talk… I just--” he looks between them both, firmly. “I knew it was some kind of match.”

At that, Elsa visibly tenses up, shooting to her feet. “Apologies, Riku, was it?” she acknowledges him, and then steps toward Sora. “May I speak with you privately for a moment?”

Confused but willing, Sora follows her as she exits the room without another word, shrugging back in Riku’s direction. She says nothing until they’re out of earshot, and Elsa uncomfortably covers her chest with both arms, hands rubbing her arms as if she were cold -- but Sora knows she isn’t.

“Please, Sora. I see what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate all the help you’ve given to my friends and family in the past, but I cannot allow this to go any further.”

“Huh?” Sora cocks his head to the side. “You don’t like Riku?” The concept is impossible, for Sora.

“Aside from him being much too young for me,” Elsa shakes her head. “No matter how numerous you claim our similarities are, there is an important one missing that promises we’d never be the type of match you’re looking for…” She seems so worried as she says it, Sora is caught off guard; the power she holds is much greater than the worth she has applied to herself. Riku’s the same way.

“You’re so similar though…” Sora pouts, shifting uncomfortably until Elsa’s words finally click for him, and Sora throws his hands in front of him, shaking his head vigorously. “I didn’t mean like that!”

“You didn’t?” Elsa’s relief is palpable.

Sora flicks the tip of his nose, grinning. “You’d be lucky to have Riku as your King,” he beams, imagining Riku in royal garments and feeling his cheeks warm with...pride? Yeah, secondhand pride. “But my motive was more serious than that.”

Interest piqued, Elsa moves in closer so they can both lower their voices. “Go on.”

Sora’s smile falls, his face hardening into one of determination. The pang of guilt in his stomach is small. “When we first met, you were in a lot of pain. Your expression...I can’t forget it. Riku made that same face at me once. Something about you two feels the same to me.” Sora’s hand moves up to rest over his heart. “Princess Anna told me more about what happened, and then I knew for sure. Riku...he’d do anything to protect me, too. Even if it meant being apart from me.”

Sora turns more somber, but he shakes it off as soon as Elsa lifts a tentative hand to his shoulder, and Sora doesn’t linger on the negative feeling long enough for her to need to comfort him.

“I heard your song. It gets stuck in my head all the time now! But the coolest part was how at the end...you seemed so different. Happy.”

Elsa goes quiet for a long moment, and by the way she smiles, Sora can guess she remembers it even more fondly than he does. “I felt free,” she says, confidence in her voice while she remains soft in her tone. “What does that have to do with your friend?”

Sora slowly faces her, hands clasping the railing barrier behind him out of a need to grip something. “I haven’t seen Riku look like that in a long time. I want him to be happy and free too.”

Elsa smiles, and unexpectedly, she giggles, something Sora would more likely anticipate from her sister, but it’s not unwelcome. “Let me guess,” she probes. “When he tried to put distance between you, you ran after him anyway?”

Sora perks up, impressed. “Yeah! Always. I’ll never stop.” 

Elsa regards him thoroughly, pressing a hand over her heart. “I understand what led you to me. He allowed himself to hurt, in order not to hurt you. So now, you want to make sure he doesn’t hurt anymore.” She hums warmly to herself. “Riku is lucky to have you, just as I am to have Anna.” 

“So you think…” Sora’s eyes wander towards the windows that look inside, where he watches Riku smiling to himself while looking at his gummiphone. Sora wonders who he’s talking to to make him smile like that, and shakes it off. “So you think a relationship like that...we’re like you? Like siblings?”

Elsa follows his gaze, and the shift in his voice, and Sora watches the way she looks off to the side and smirks, like she knows something he doesn’t. She does. “Love like that -- the deepest love, that ties two people together in a way that fills them with such power to protect one another -- it’s not about how you know each other. Love like that, could be between family, or friends. Partners, or lovers. If your love is like mine and Anna’s, all that means is that it’s true. Unbreakable.”

Sora likes the sound of that, and wistfully he follows Elsa’s gaze out off the balcony, where Sven gallops down below, and Riku appears alongside him, Kristoff and Olaf tagging along. Riku waves up towards them, and both Sora and Elsa wave back. Elsa eyes Sora’s enthusiasm though, and rests her elbows on the balcony railing, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You were quick to offer Riku up as a King,” she remarks, amusement in her voice. “I myself am not looking for one, but we are always welcoming capable knights. Would you then say your Riku is capable?”

Sora’s face lights up with joy. “Of course he is!” he beams. “Riku is strong, and cool with a weapon. He’s always had really big dreams, and isn’t afraid of anything. Except...losing me, I think.” Sora considers that for a moment, eventually resting his chin on his hand. “He’d be a perfect knight,” he sighs, until his mind drifts to images of girls handing a knighted Riku their handkerchief or flowers as favor. It makes him snicker.

“Something funny?”

Sora shrugs it off. “I was just thinking, Riku is perfect in a lot of ways, but he’s so awkward with girls. I don’t think he’d be interested in gaining points from them.”

“I see.” Elsa’s fingers tap against her cheek, gaze downward where the snow has piled up below them, and the sun begins to disappear as clouds roll in above. “How ever will he find himself a girlfriend then?” she teases.

“Huh?!” Sora yells, stepping back in surprise. 

Elsa grins, one eyebrow raised. “You said he was perfect. Surely some girls have noticed too?”

“He is,” Sora’s eyes land on Riku on the ground, where he’s helping Olaf put himself back together after who-knows-what. Anna laughs beside them, as Riku says something Sora can’t make out from here. “I’m sure a lot of girls have noticed…” 

“But he’s always with you,” Elsa repeats, and Sora nods. “And you want it to stay that way.” Sora nods again, this time feeling his face flush. He ignores it.

Elsa doesn’t, prodding, “What if he were to choose you?”

Sora’s head lifts. “Choose me?”

“Instead of those girls you say he’s not interested in,” she absently pulls her braid over her shoulder. “What if he  _ chose  _ you?”

“You mean…” Sora’s gaze drifts off to nowhere in particular, as he wonders what that would be like -- to hold Riku’s hand, or hug him, or be alone with him. Sora’s already done those things. It’s warm, and happy, and butterflies tumble in his stomach. Sora imagines falling asleep next to Riku, imagines playing with him, and hiding behind him during scary movies. He already does those things too. They feel as right as they always have. He imagines staying by Riku’s side, just the two of them, for the rest of forever. He’s been prepared for that before too. 

Like a movie playing in his mind, Sora imagines kissing Riku, and the butterflies in his stomach begin to dance, his heart beating in time with them, and as Sora presses a hand against his chest, he exhales like it’s the first time he’s ever done it.

“Well?” Elsa probes, with genuine interest. “How do you feel?”

“Free,” his lips say, without a thought. “I feel how I always feel with him… But more of it? Butterflies, and warmth--”

“Butterflies!” Elsa interrupts, surprisingly entertained. “You always feel butterflies?”

Sora scratches his head. “Uh...yeah. But it’s weird. I thought it was supposed to feel weird, but I like it. It feels good...like it’s just music inside.”

“How romantic,” she notes, and Sora is too frazzled to worry about whether or not she’s teasing him.

“Romantic,” Sora repeats, holding a hand over his fluttering stomach. “Is this romantic? I’ve always felt--” She nods. Oh. “But then that would mean I’ve  _ always-- _ ” Elsa clears her throat. Oh. Sora’s voice quiets. “So I…” She smiles at him.

Oh.

Distracted, Sora doesn’t notice Elsa’s warning, and quicker than he can react, his face is struck by a snowball, freezing his cheek and dusting his hair. “Hey!” he calls aimlessly, looking around to see Elsa hiding a snicker, but pointing a finger down to Riku below, who’s proudly holding another snowball ready in his hand, meeting Sora’s eyes with a smirk. “I’ll get you back!” he yells down, and takes off to meet him, stopping only when he remembers he left Elsa behind. “Hey, Queen Elsa?” he turns back.

“Yes?” she closes the doors behind her.

“Can you make it snow?”

With a smirk that could rival Riku’s, Elsa flutters her fingers to warm them up, and Sora sees an icy layer grow across her palm. “I’ll see what I can do,” she tells him. “Now go get him.”

  
  
  


Riku knows he’s coming, of course, his snowball was an invitation, but Sora still tries to be sneaky, waiting until Riku’s back is turned and carefully forming a snowball of his own, which he throws at Riku’s back. Bull’s-eye.

“Sora!” Riku calls without having to turn around, and Sora’s waiting with his tongue sticking out once Riku spins on his heels and looks all too happy to take off towards him.

“We’re even now!” Sora calls as he runs, racing to take cover behind a flush tree. Once hidden, Sora goes silent, waiting with ears alert, for Riku’s shoes to crunch in the snow and alert him of his presence -- but no such sound comes, and Sora has never been very patient, peeking his head around only to have a snowball strike him square in the forehead where he’d left himself exposed.

“This is how I always won at hide-and-seek!” Riku grins, tossing yet another prepared snowball in his hand. 

Sora covers his face with both hands and steps out, each step tentative. “Truce! White flag! I give in!”

“Already?” Riku laughs, but he’s not actually disappointed, and instead of betraying the truce, he shows his own sign of fairness and places his snowball into Sora’s open hand.

“Seriously?” Sora drops his arms and examines it, face exposed. He could follow the cease-fire. He really could. Or…

Sora smirks, and Riku takes a step back. “Oh no.”

Lifting his head, Sora cockily tosses the snowball in his hand in the same way Riku had been and winks at him. “What’ll it be, Master Riku? You gonna hide or run?”

Riku shakes his head, and Sora can see the faint smile on his face as Riku takes off on foot. Perfect. He takes off after him, letting Riku outrun him for a while so he can enjoy the way he laughs every time they zig-zag around each other, until he hears the first sign of Riku running out of breath and takes advantage of it. His superior jumping abilities come in handy, as Sora steps onto a pile of logs as Riku passes it, and then jumps onto his back, knocking Riku onto the ground.

“That’s gotta be a foul!” Riku coughs and laughs at the same time, rolling onto his back so he can avoid a mouthful of snow, but Sora won’t let him off so easily, digging his knees into the fabric of Riku’s jacket into the snow, trapping him. He may not be as strong as Riku, but he can try to be as clever. Holding the snowball over their heads with one hand, Sora grabs a fistful of Riku’s shirt with the other.

“You know Riku, I think your hair could use a handful of snow,” he chuckles, unable to keep a straight face even in a playful threat.

“You wouldn’t--” Riku eyes him, but he is neither scared nor angry; in fact, if Sora were to guess, he’d recognize the hints of a smile beneath his suspicion. He only wishes it were bigger. 

Sora’s gaze lingers in Riku’s, as his thoughts rush with ideas of things he could do, all the things he would do to make Riku feel as happy and free as Elsa is. To make all his pain seem like it was so long ago, to make it all worth it. He’s hesitated for too long now though, and the snow is melting in his hand, something he notices only when a drop of water splashes on Riku’s face below, and Riku scrunches his nose. 

“Hey, come on,” Riku protests, but he’s laughing, and Sora feels the weight on his shoulders lessen as he crushes what’s left of the snowball in his hand and drops it to his side. Sora still has him trapped in place, but Riku’s able to prop himself up and wipe the water off his face with his hand, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes when they meet Sora’s up close. “You knew I’d retaliate if you went through with that, huh?”

“No,” Sora answers without pause, despite his eyebrows wrinkled in thought. “It’s just...you looked cute. I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“Cute?” Riku stills, his face unchanging so Sora can’t so much as attempt any analysis he’d normally fail anyway. Riku blinks, “Huh?”

Butterflies flutter in Sora’s stomach, and he holds both hands over it as he stands, fully freeing Riku from his trap and turning his back to him. “You and Elsa are really similar, Riku… I thought I’d be even better than Anna at getting through, but I dunno.”

Sora can hear Riku’s clothes shuffle as he moves to his feet and brushes himself off, dusting the snow onto the ground and taking a few steps closer. “What do you mean?”

“You tried to push me away and I wouldn’t let you… I’m not mad,” he explains, insistently, even turning back to face Riku to urgently makes sure he knows that part. He takes a breath. “You got to leave a lot of your pain behind… But it still feels like you’re locking me out. Or...locking yourself in. How do I set you free?”

Sora’s eyes are pleading but friendly; it’s a request, not a demand, and it comes from the heart. Riku’s eyes are wider instead, blinking at Sora with a heave deep from his chest, and Sora can see him visibly tense right before his eyes.

“See? Like that,” Sora points right at him, at the way Riku’s shoulders tighten just at the suggestion. “When I’m around you, everything’s easier. I feel free, like Elsa did, whenever we’re together. Why don’t you?”

Still, Riku stares at him. But instead of continuing, Sora stares back; he’s never been one to demand words out of Riku, but he can’t see any other way around this one. Sora tightens his jaw, and stares him down, refusing to back down, and Riku looks away.

“I’m still protecting you from something,” Riku tries, but Sora shakes his fists.

“Well stop!” he pleads. “Stop...we’re fine. We’re safe. If you’re always expecting something bad to happen, you’ll never get to enjoy the good stuff.” Sora holds out his hand, palm up, and closes his fingers into his palm with determination. “I know, Riku. You proved it to me. You’d let yourself fall to a fate worse than death to protect me. Well guess what?” Sora presses his hand against his heart and pokes it, the same way Riku had once done to him. “I’d do the same for you. That’s what true love is.”

Riku opens his mouth, and Sora’s ready to cling to his every word, but once again, none come out, and Riku takes two stunned steps backwards. “You--”

“Please, Riku,” Sora interrupts, having discovered words he likes better along the way. “Whatever walls you’re still trying so hard to hold up...let them down so I can reach you if you fall.”

“Sora…” Riku reaches out a hand, and Sora’s already allowing himself to smile when a gust of wind from further up the mountain overtakes them, strong enough to block out their voices if they tried to speak. More pressing, the trees around them creak just as loudly, and a loud crack precedes a large branch swinging down in the wind, headed right for them.

“Riku!” Sora calls on instinct, flinging himself forward and pushing Riku out of the way so they both land on the ground. This time though, Sora’s not playing around, he’s in full defensive mode, crouching over Riku and using his body as a shield against the branches and wind. Eyes closed tightly, he holds his position until the wind stops, just a moment later, and Sora lifts his head, guaranteeing the all-clear before looking down, finding himself nose-to-nose with Riku’s beet-red face. 

Sora blushes similarly, rolling over onto his back in the snow next to him and clearing his throat and looking up at the clouds instead. They’re so thick he can’t see anything else beyond them. It’s too quiet, but Sora can’t bring himself to break the silence for the first time in his life, feeling the butterflies in his stomach again and wondering if Riku has them too.

Eventually, Riku chokes out a laugh, staring up at the sky with the same look on his face. “You know, for a minute there I thought you were trying to play matchmaker with me and Queen Elsa.”

Sora smiles, relieved to know that’s something that makes Riku laugh. “Nah,” he teases. “Elsa doesn’t want a king. Never would’ve worked.”

“So my hunch was right?” Riku asks, forcing a chuckle through his nose. “Guess you were right about us being similar. I don’t want a Queen either.”

There’s tension in the air in that moment, Sora unable to see the panic on Riku’s face, or the surprise on his own as a lightbulb goes off in his head.  _ Oh! _ he thinks, and breathes a long sigh, grinning to himself, satisfied. “Riku...you don’t like girls, do you?”

Riku lets the question hang for a long moment, one Sora allows him to have, one that’s worth as long as Riku needs it to take; eventually, his voice comes out, flat: “No. I don’t.”

“Oh!” Sora says out loud this time, sitting up but still looking forward, hands settling in his lap. He can’t explain in words why, but he feels lighter all of a sudden.

“Are you mad? That I didn’t tell you?” Riku asks beside him, in a voice that feels far away despite the short distance between them, and Sora is quick to turn and reach for his arm.

“Of course not, Riku,” Sora softens his voice, along with his face; he doesn’t want to seem too giddy when he can’t even articulate why he feels it. “I just wish you hadn’t been hurting so much because of it.”

Sora’s hand lingers on Riku’s arm, and Sora’s never before been so conscious of their touches, wondering how Riku will interpret their every contact. Slowly, Riku sits up beside him, and Sora’s hand naturally falls, resting on his own knee but itching to do more.

“Is that what you were hiding from me?” It suddenly hits him that they’re alone. That Elsa never followed them out, that the others disappeared before Sora ever saw them. 

Riku nods, and Sora can’t help but find it endearing how Riku puts himself through several deep breaths, as if he hadn’t already gotten over the hardest part. “Oh, hey look!” Riku points upward, and the outdoor lights come on just in time to bathe Riku in their light, as Riku looks up towards the sky in awe as it begins snowing, snowflakes landing on his nose, and cheeks, and even in his eyes. Riku does nothing to brush any of them off, or avoid them. “My first snowfall,” he mutters, and his smile spreads from ear to ear, eyes towards the sky and mouth open so he can try to catch the falling snowflakes.

Sora stares, holding his stomach as the butterflies inside it reach terminal velocity, ready to expel themselves from his body. “Do you get butterflies around me?” they spill, and Sora follows the energy up onto his feet, ignoring whatever attempt Riku gave at responding. “I get butterflies in my stomach. When I’m with you. When I think about being with you. But it’s not a bad feeling.” Sora paces in front of him, letting the butterflies only he can feel spill out of him. “It’s the feeling that makes me miss you. It makes me want to see you when we’re apart and I feel it when we’re fighting side by side. It’s like being so happy I could puke! But I don’t want to puke, I want to hold on to you and not let go.”

Sora stops pacing, looking down at Riku in front of him with both feet planted on the ground, both fists tightening with eager anticipation. It only doubles when Riku rises to his feet without breaking eye contact.

“It’s not just me,” Sora says confidently, his voice quieter the closer Riku steps in towards him. “I know it isn’t.”

“It’s not just you,” Riku grins, and Sora doesn’t get out his prepared ‘ _ I knew it _ ’ in time; Riku’s hands are too quick to take hold of Sora’s jaw and cheeks, closing their lips in a kiss, soft and eager, just like Riku, and Sora becomes putty in his hands, leaning his weight against Riku’s when it feels like he suddenly weighs nothing at all.

Riku eventually releases him, and Sora dreamily blinks up at him, then shaking his head free and pouting. “Oh come on, you’re already good at so many things, now I have to find out you’re a great kisser too?”

After a beat, that sends Riku into heartfelt laughter, and he slides his arms back, one holding his stomach and the other held out as he laughs, harder than Sora has seen him laugh in a long time. Maybe it was funny, but not that funny, and Sora looks at him curiously, before he notices how loose Riku’s shoulders are, how his posture falls, how natural his breaths seem once he’s stopped laughing. He’s stopped thinking about each one. Sora understands.

He takes advantage of Riku’s outstretched arm, reaching for his hand and threading their fingers together, something that catches Riku’s attention instantly, and Sora falls in stride next to him, leading him towards the castle entrance. “Hey Riku, let’s go do karaoke.”

Riku squeezes his hand, staring at their entwined fingers. “Right now? Why?”

“Just thinking,” Sora swings their arms between them, grinning. “I bet you feel like singing right now, don’t you?”

“Honestly, I do,” Riku chuckles sheepishly, scratching his cheek with his index finger. “How did you know?”

Sora pulls on Riku’s arm so it wraps around his shoulder, and as they approach, he catches sight of Elsa in the window, and they exchange a knowing nod, as Sora leans his weight against Riku’s side. “Just a lucky guess.”

  
  
  



End file.
